


New Rules

by jamesbvck



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Hardships, Riverdale, Young Love, past falice, serpents, southside
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2019-02-11 18:44:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12941397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jamesbvck/pseuds/jamesbvck
Summary: Trying to fix someone that is broken is never easy, especially when it's FP Jones.





	New Rules

No matter how hard she tried, Alice couldn’t get FP out of her head. She was hoping that scribbling out all her thoughts into a journal would clear her mind but no such luck. Her heart was stuck on a man that made her feel like she was one in a million, the only girl in the world. Yet at the same time, the damage he did on her would last a lifetime and leave severe impact.

_Fuck._

FP was a drunk, he was inconstant and moody. Some days he loved her and others all he did was yell and cuss. It was blood ridden coursing through his entire body passed down from his great-grandfather onto him. So he couldn’t help it and Alice wanted to try and make him a better man. There was always of glimmer of hope in FP until he was four beers in and staggering in his own living room. His father was never home and his mother worked night shifts at the hospital. Alice was always there to pick up the pieces and the broken glass.

It was the same story every Friday night where he would end up at the Whyte Wyrm and call her from a payphone. Sloppily drunk with a slur in his voice.

_“Ali, come on… You know there’s no other girl but you for me.”_

_“It’s the same story every time, FP.” She leaned against the kitchen wall, twirling the phone cord around her fingers. “I can’t be with you like this. We’re going in circles.”_

_“But I– I love you.”_

_She sighed. “I know. That’s the problem.”_

FP was the issue. But no matter how many times they went in circles, Alice would always fall back to him. She’d go to the Wyrm and pick him up in her old station wagon and bring him home. They kissed, he mumble into her ear the things he knew she loved and before she knew it was the morning after.

She’d kiss his cheek before slipping back on her shirt and her jeans, quietly leaving the trailer. Her forehead rested on the steering wheel, gripping it tightly. How much longer could she deal with the same cycle? It was tiresome and mentally exhausting.

How do you let someone go when you are their anchor?

“Don’t answer the phone.” Mary’s tone was stern. Alice eyes locked on the phone mounted against the wall as it rang and rang and rang. There was a twinge in her stomach that knew it was him. It was nearly midnight, the next Friday night. “You can’t fix him. He’s drunk, alone, broken.”

She stared until it stopped ringing. “He’ll call again.”

“I’ll gladly disconnect the phone.” Mary dipped back into pink the nail polish she was using for her toes.

Alice knew she shouldn’t have felt so guilty. She felt like she was leaving him stranded when she knew he’d be fine.

“You can’t keep letting him in, Alice. It’s only going to fester.” Mary carried on a moment later. “You have to let him go for your own sake. You have to get over him.”

Alice laid silent in bed until four in the morning. It was the first Friday night in months she wasn’t in FP’s bed and it felt beyond strange. His arm wasn’t strung over her hips, hugging her close to his chest in a protective manner. His breathing wasn’t on her neck and his scruff wasn’t tickling her soft skin. There wasn’t the smell of alcohol and cigarettes and more importantly, there was no body next to hers.

_“I’d die for you, Ali.”_

_“Shut up, Junior.” Alice rolled her eyes, laying back down on his bed with one of his shirt draping over her body._

_He pulled her over to him, nuzzling his face into her neck. “You don’t think so?”_

_“I know so. You’re also inebriated.”_

_“Mmm I love it when you use big words.”_

_She pushed his head away as he gave her a cheesy grin. FP was an idiot._

Alice grasped onto the snake pendent of the necklace she was wearing. It belonged to FP but she took ownership after he got her to fix the broken chain. She always had a part of him with her wherever she was. She took her journal off her desk, turning it to the last written in page.

New Rules:

**1) Don’t pick up the phone.**

**2) Don’t let him in.**

**3) Don’t be his friend.**

There was that twinge in her stomach again, she felt like she wanted to throw up. Her eyes slipped shut with a single tear running down her cheek. Alice did not cry, not unless it was completely necessary and in a understanding matter. She sure as hell wasn’t going to cry over a boy either. At least she thought she’d never would. However, practice made perfect and if she could somehow make it through the first night, she could make it through the rest.

“Don’t pick up the phone. Don’t let him in. Don’t be his friend.” Alice murmured to herself, shutting her journal and tossed it across the room. She curled into a ball of her side, the blankets up to her neck as she willed herself to sleep.

Relentless was an understatement. FP went above and beyond to get Alice’s attention. Somehow Alice had blocked him from her sights even if her moral compass was spinning out of control. Every part of her lead back to FP but she couldn’t submerge herself to that low anymore. She busied herself picking up more shifts at Pop’s. Pop was slightly suspicious but Alice was a tremendous worker and knew all the regulars.

“Are you okay, Alice? You haven’t taken your break yet.” Pop wiped down the counter as he looked at the young girl.

“I’m fine, Pop.” She replied, filling some glasses with sodas. “I can stay late tonight if you need extra hands.”

He chuckled wholeheartedly. “No, you’ve stayed late every shift these last two weeks. You deserve to go home on time.”

“I don’t mind.”

“I admire your work ethic, but I’m sure you have some party to go to with your friends.”

Alice half smiled out of politeness to Pop. She really wanted to kill another two hours so she didn’t have to be at home when the phone rang. At the same time, she knew Pop would keep badgering her to leave. When it hit eleven o’clock, Alice reluctantly punched out her timecard at Pop’s. There wasn’t even the chance of going to crash at Mary’s because she was having family in town that weekend.

She drove herself home, tossing her keys onto the kitchen table. There were leftovers she heated up in the microwave. Night Court was on with back-to-back episodes. Alice sat herself cross-legged, chowing down on her borderline cardboard tasting lasagne. A few bites in and there it was: the sound of the phone ringing. Her eyes slowly moved to focus on the phone. The ring sounded like sirens in her ears, blaring as loud as they could.

**_Don’t pick up the phone._ **

Her appetite was lost in the matter of seconds. Her fork clanged against the plate as it slipped from her fingertips. Every muscle in her body was holding her back from lunging off the couch. Four rings. Her teeth sunk into her bottom lip to inflict pain as a distraction. However her mind was more powerful, willing her way to her feet and raced over to answer the phone.

“Hello?”

There was a slight pant to her breath. Alice cupped the phone in her hands, pressing it firmly to her ear. There was a pad of silence.

“Ali.” FP’s voice rang out through the receiver. She could hear the music in the background and deep laughter from the older men of the Wyrm. “You picked up the phone.”

“What do you want, FP?”

“You know what I want.” He replied coldly, though his voice softened quickly. “You. Always you.”

“You’re drunk and you’re lonely. We can’t keep doing this.”

“I’m not drunk.” He retorted. “I’m _not_ drunk, I swear.”

It was so hard to believe his words when the past was so prominent. She couldn’t trust him to be sober when this was routine. “I have to go.” She murmured.

“Ali--”

“-- I can’t do this, FP.” The phone was slammed onto the base.

Her heart sunk. Her head was dizzy.

Alice dragged herself back to the couch. She shoved her plate onto the coffee table. She felt sick again, curling into a ball on the couch. Whatever was being said on the TV was muffled in her ears. If she couldn’t follow the first rule, at least she could stick to the others.

Three hard knocks banged against her front door an hour later. Alice nearly had a heart attack, jolting up from the couch. She hadn’t realized she had passed out. She knew he must have been her dad, he always forgot his keys. Her legs swung over to stand, pushing her hair bag as she went to unlock the door. Alice wasn’t sure why she was so optimistic. FP stood on her front porch disheveled, his hair falling in his face with his head tilted down.

**_Don’t let him in._ **

Neither of them said anything for several moments. Alice was staring but FP barely made eye contact with her.

She broke the silence. “You need to go.” His head lifted. The porch light casted along his face reveal a bad cut above his right eyebrow and a black eye. There was another small cut on his left cheek. “What the hell is wrong with you?!” Alice grabbed his jacket and yanked him inside.

FP had a cheesy grin on his lips. “I fell.”

“Fuck off you fell. What did you do?” Alice pushed him to sit on the couch as she went to find whatever she could to fix him up.

“I got into a fight.” FP kicked off his boots, putting his feet up on the table. “After you ever so politely hung up on me these assholes started talking about you. I didn’t like what they were saying to I put them in their place.”

Alice returned with a bowl of warm water, a cloth and an ice pack. She sat next to him, her head shaking. “I don’t care what people say about me in this damn town.” She dipped the cloth into the water, wringing it out before dabbing his eyebrow. He winced.

“Well I care. They were disrespecting my girl.” His eyes stayed on the TV but there was truth. “I’d rather something happen to me then to you.”

Alice didn’t reply, she took a closer look at his eyebrow after the blood was gone. “I don’t think you’ll have to go to the hospital to get it stitched up. Should be fine.”

“Thank you, nurse.”

His breath did smell like beer before it wasn’t as strong as usual. His eyes were more white than red. Maybe he wasn’t drunk but she still couldn’t have him here. She was severely failing following her rules. Alice set the bowl of water and the bloody cloth on the table.  

“You can’t stay here.” Alice told him.

“Why were you ignoring me?”

“I’m not ignoring you.”

FP was displeased, putting the ice pack to his eye. He sucked his teeth making a high pitched sound, briefly looking at her. “Don’t bullshit me.” He said. Alice’s blue eyes flickered downward as she turned her head away. FP caught her chin, gently swerving her head back in his direction. “What do I gotta do?”

Alice pushed his hand away, getting up. Her arms folded firmly over her chest as she distanced herself to the other side of the room. “Do you even care about me?”

“What the hell kind of question is that?”

“You’re drunk all the time and say all these things that sound special, but are they? Do you even mean them?”

FP tossed the ice pack onto the table, taking his feet off the table. His elbows rested on his knees with his hands running through his dark hair, bracing the back of his neck. “What do you want me to say, huh? Everything I tell you is always the truth.”

“When’s the last time you did something for me? Everything I do is for you.” Alice frowned, her eyes straining. “You call, I pick you up and drive your drunk ass home. I stay so you don’t do anything stupid. It happens every goddamn week and nothing. No thank yous, no nothing. I’ve tried to help you but there’s nothing I can do anymore.”

“You don’t think I try?”

Alice breathed a laugh, rolling her eyes to the ceiling. “No you don’t. You don’t want to try. I know things are fucked up, you’re fucked up but so many other things are too.”

FP got up. He crossed the room to her, who braced herself. There was anger and frustration in his tired eyes. He had never laid a hand on Alice, not once had it crossed his mind. His arms reached out and placed his rough hands on her velvet skin, carefully grasping her arms. His eye contact varied, trying to look at her but he couldn’t.

“I can’t… I can’t lose you. You’re all I have.”

**_Don’t be his friend._ **

Light rain pattered against the window. It was nearing six in the morning and Alice hadn’t slept. She had sat with FP until the early hours going back and forth about their situation and why things had to change. If he wasn’t willing to put in the effort then essentially they were doomed and one of them would be dead.

Through it all, she loved him. Through his flaws and his obscurities, there was a man underneath it all that wanted to be the best he could be. He wanted to be the best for her. Everything he said was truth, he loved her, he’d die for her, he’d married her if she didn’t constantly tell him he was an idiot (which he was).

He was going to change for _her._

FP lied with his nose nestled to Alice’s neck, sleeping soundly like he usually did. His breathing quiet and his arm wrapped over her waist. Perhaps she’d never learn. The new rules were now old rules replaced by the will to commit, the will to be better.

She was never getting over him.


End file.
